System and method for processing closed loop cards at a merchant point of sale

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for redeeming a closed loop card/code funded with an amount of money. The system receives, at a merchant, an indication from a consumer of a desire to sell a closed loop account not issued by the merchant and receives a confirmation, via a computing device, of an amount of money in the closed loop account. The system presents the consumer with an offer to buy the closed loop account and receives from the consumer an acceptance of the offer. The system processes the closed loop account to yield a processed closed loop account such as by transferring the account to one of the merchant and an entity and applies a benefit to the consumer based on the processed closed loop account.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present Application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/702,610, filed Feb. 9, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,820,634, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/573,056, filed Oct.2, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,631,999, which claims priority toProvisional Application 61/207,125, filed Feb. 9, 2009, and ProvisionalApplication 61/211,394, filed Mar. 28, 2009. The present applicationalso claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/939,241, filedFeb. 12, 2014. The content of each of the above referenced patentapplications is incorporated herein by reference.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 12/702,600,filed Feb. 9, 2010, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/702,623, filed Feb. 9,2010, and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/701,711, filed Feb. 8, 2010. Thisapplication is also related to U.S. Pat. No. 8,152,060. The content ofeach of the above reference patent applications and patent isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to processing closed loop card/codes andmore specifically to accepting closed loop card/codes of other merchantsat any merchant point of sale.

2. Introduction

Gift card/codes are widely used as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, andother holidays. Gift card/codes are closed loop card/codes, meaning thatthe value represented by a gift card/code is a valid form of payment ata closed set of retailers. For example, an Outback Steakhouse® giftcard/code is only redeemable at Outback Steakhouse® and not at PlanetHollywood® or Target®. Some closed loop card/codes are valid at a familyof closely related or commonly owned merchants. For example, a DardenRestaurants gift card/code is valid at Red Lobster® and Olive Garden®,or a local mall gift card/code is valid at tenant merchants in the localmall. Open loop card/codes, in contrast, are a valid form of payment atvirtually every retailer nationwide, such as Visa® or Mastercard/Code®debit card/codes.

While gift card/codes are a popular alternative to giving cash or amerchandise item which the recipient may not like, the recipient may notbe able to redeem the gift card/code due to geographic limitations,personal disinterest in the merchant who issued the gift card/code, orother reasons. Additionally, some merchants issue gift card/codes withsignificant restrictions, complex fees, and/or an expiration date.According to one estimate, consumers purchase about $80 billion worth ofgift card/codes annually in the U.S. and roughly 10%, or $8 billion, ofthat amount goes unredeemed. Consumers waste these unredeemed funds anddo not benefit from the full value of the gift card/code. Further, ifthese funds are not spent, they can escheat to the state. Merchants maylose prospective sales if potential customers are holding funds whichare only redeemable at competitor businesses.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media forredeeming a closed loop card/code funded with an amount of money. Thesystem can be a computing device configured to practice the method. Thesystem receives from a merchant point of sale an indication of use of aclosed loop card/code not issued by the merchant and presented by aconsumer and queries and receives a confirmation of an amount of moneyin an account associated with the closed loop card/code. The systemqueries and receives a confirmation of the amount of money from amulti-process secure gateway which communicates with one or more closedloop card/code processors. The system presents the consumer with anoffer to buy the closed loop card/code at a discount price, and, uponaccepting the offer, closes out the closed loop card/code and pays thediscount price to the consumer. The system can apply the discount priceto a purchase by the consumer at the merchant. The merchant can applythe discount by accepting payment for the product via a differentvehicle (i.e. the tendered closed-loop card or code) from the customersimply paying a lower price. In other words, the merchant accepts thecompetitor closed loop card as full or partial payment for themerchant's goods or services. The merchant can provide cash back to theconsumer for the excess value of the discount price over the purchase bythe consumer at the merchant. The merchant can apply more than theoffered discount price to the purchase. Paying the discount price caninclude applying the discount price to a merchant specific card/code ofthe consumer. In another aspect, the system receives, at a merchant, anindication from a consumer of a desire to sell a closed loop account notissued by the merchant and receives a confirmation, via a computingdevice, of an amount of money in the closed loop account. The systempresents the consumer with an offer to buy the closed loop account andreceives from the consumer an acceptance of the offer. The systemprocesses the closed loop account to yield a processed closed loopaccount such as by transferring the account to one of the merchant andan entity and applies a benefit to the consumer based on the processedclosed loop account.

Also disclosed are alternative systems, methods, and computer-readablestorage media for redeeming a closed loop card/code funded with anamount of money. The system can be a computing device configured topractice the method. The system receives from a merchant an indicationof use of a closed loop card/code not issued by the merchant andpresented by a consumer at a merchant point of sale, queries andreceives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associatedwith the closed loop card/code, receives an indication from the merchantthat the consumer has accepted an offer to sell the closed loopcard/code, and based on the received indication, closes out the closedloop card/code and pays a second amount to the merchant. The merchantcan apply a discount to a purchase by the consumer based on the amountpaid to the merchant. The merchant can provide cash back to the consumerfor excess value over the second amount paid to the merchant. Themerchant can apply a discount greater than the second amount.

Throughout this disclosure, closed loop cards and other cards areinterchangeable with a closed loop code or other code which serves thesame purpose as a physical closed loop card.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the principles briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a multi-process secure gateway configuration;

FIG. 3 illustrates a merchant interaction with a secure gateway;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method embodiment; and

FIG. 5 illustrates another example method embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 includes ageneral-purpose computing device 100, including a processing unit (CPUor processor) 120 and a system bus 110 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 130 such as read only memory(ROM) 140 and random access memory (RAM) 150 to the processor 120. Theseand other modules can be configured to control the processor 120 toperform various actions. Other system memory 130 may be available foruse as well. It can be appreciated that the disclosure may operate on acomputing device 100 with more than one processor 120 or on a group orcluster of computing devices networked together to provide greaterprocessing capability. The processor 120 can include any general purposeprocessor and a hardware module or software module, such as module 1162, module 2 164, and module 3 166 stored in storage device 160,configured to control the processor 120 as well as a special-purposeprocessor where software instructions are incorporated into the actualprocessor design. The processor 120 may essentially be a completelyself-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orprocessors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processormay be symmetric or asymmetric.

The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basicinput/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basicroutine that helps to transfer information between elements within thecomputing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100further includes storage devices 160 such as a hard disk drive, amagnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. Thestorage device 160 can include software modules 162, 164, 166 forcontrolling the processor 120. Other hardware or software modules arecontemplated. The storage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110by a drive interface. The drives and the associated computer readablestorage media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputing device 100. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs aparticular function includes the software component stored in a tangibleand/or intangible computer-readable medium in connection with thenecessary hardware components, such as the processor 120, bus 110,display 170, and so forth, to carry out the function. The basiccomponents are known to those of skill in the art and appropriatevariations are contemplated depending on the type of device, such aswhether the device 100 is a small, handheld computing device, a desktopcomputer, or a computer server.

Although the exemplary embodiment described herein employs the hard disk160, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that othertypes of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories(RAMs) 150, read only memory (ROM) 140, a cable or wireless signalcontaining a bit stream and the like, may also be used in the exemplaryoperating environment. Tangible computer-readable storage mediaexpressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagneticwaves, and signals per se.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. The inputdevice 190 may be used by the presenter to indicate the beginning of aspeech search query. An output device 170 can also be one or more of anumber of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In someinstances, multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types ofinput to communicate with the computing device 100. The communicationsinterface 180 generally governs and manages the user input and systemoutput. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardwarearrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment ispresented as including individual functional blocks including functionalblocks labeled as a “processor” or processor 120. The functions theseblocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared ordedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable ofexecuting software and hardware, such as a processor 120, that ispurpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on ageneral purpose processor. For example the functions of one or moreprocessors presented in FIG. 1 may be provided by a single sharedprocessor or multiple processors. (Use of the term “processor” shouldnot be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executingsoftware.) Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/ordigital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 140 forstoring software performing the operations discussed below, and randomaccess memory (RAM) 150 for storing results. Very large scaleintegration (VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSIcircuitry in combination with a general purpose DSP circuit, may also beprovided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as:(1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) asequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)interconnected machine modules or program engines within theprogrammable circuits. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 can practice allor part of the recited methods, can be a part of the recited systems,and/or can operate according to instructions in the recited tangiblecomputer-readable storage media. Generally speaking, such logicaloperations can be implemented as modules configured to control theprocessor 120 to perform particular functions according to theprogramming of the module. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates three modulesMod1 162, Mod2 164 and Mod3 166 which are modules configured to controlthe processor 120. These modules may be stored on the storage device 160and loaded into RAM 150 or memory 130 at runtime or may be stored aswould be known in the art in other computer-readable memory locations.

Gift card/codes are divided into open loop and closed loop card/codes.Typically banks or credit card companies issue open loop card/codes(example: Visa, MasterCard, Amex or Discover) which can be redeemed byvirtually any business entity. These differ from closed loop card/codeswhich are typically issued by a specific store or restaurant and can beonly redeemed by the issuing provider (example: Sears, Red Lobster,Target). Gift card/codes are one common form of closed loop card/codes.The physical card/code and the card/code number associated with thecard/code are interchangeable concepts. Gift card/codes can store areference to the amount of money within a physical card/code or canstore a reference to an external database of accounts which referencesan amount of money. One or more external database can maintain fundsfrom which each of a set of accounts linked to a card/code can draw.

Having disclosed some basic system components and concepts, thedisclosure now turns to the exemplary method embodiment shown in FIG. 2.For the sake of clarity, the method is discussed in terms of anexemplary system such as is shown in FIG. 1 configured to practice themethod.

FIG. 2 illustrates a multi-process secure gateway configuration 200. Themulti-process secure gateway 202 can be implemented as a local or remoteserver, a group of tightly or loosely interconnected servers, integratedas a software module within a point of sale device, or as any othersuitable device, software, or combination thereof. In FIG. 2, themulti-process secure gateway 202 is shown as a single conceptual serveravailable over a network 212B such as the public telephone network orthe Internet. The multi-process secure gateway 202 interacts withvarious requesters, such as kiosks 204, mobile devices 206, desktopcomputers 208, and merchants' point of sale devices 210, which submitinformation uniquely identifying closed loop card/codes. Mobile device206 also represents a standard telephone as well as communication withan interactive voice response system. Each of these devices can interactwith the secure gateway 202 through different protocols, such as adirect network connection, an HTTP-based portal, SMS messages,telephone, interactive voice response systems, point-of-sale (POS)terminals, etc. In the case of merchants, each point of sale of themerchant 210 can connect to a centralized merchant server, not shown,which relays requests to the secure gateway 202 on behalf of all themerchant 210 point of sale devices. Other configurations also exist. Inone aspect, this process may be called Cash4Card (name used fordescription purposes only). Merchants 210, kiosks 204, other devicesand/or locations, including online storefronts, which provide aninterface to the secure gateway 202 can provide an easily recognizablevisual or other indication readily indicating to potential customersthat they accept gift card/codes under the Cash4Card program. Theindication can be a window sticker, an online image, or other signdisplayed in a manner similar to the well-known overlapping circles forMasterCard® or the blue and orange bars over and under the word VISA®.

The secure gateway 202 interacts with multiple closed loop processors214, such as FirstData and Chase Paymentech, over a network 212A such asthe Internet. These closed loop processors are entities that processclosed loop cards, such as FirstData, and are different from a computerprocessor such as an AMD Phenom II or Intel Core Duo. The secure gateway202 can perform any action on the closed loop card/code through thevarious closed loop card/code processors 214 as if the secure gateway202 was a closed loop merchant. The secure gateway 202 analyzes thesubmitted information to determine which closed loop processor handlesthat type of closed loop card/code. For example, a particular series ofnumbers or letters can indicate that one closed loop card/code ishonored by Paymentech, and another distinct set of numbers or lettersindicates that another closed loop card/code is honored by FirstData.The logic and analysis in the secure gateway 202 can change from time totime as new types of card/codes are issued by existing closed loopprocessors 214 or as the secure gateway 202 adds interfaces for newclosed loop processors. The secure gateway 202 can include a commonapplication programmer interface (API) which defines actions which maybe performed through the closed loop processors 214. The API translatesAPI calls to the corresponding specific sets of proprietary interactionswith the various closed loop processors 214, which may be very differentbetween closed loop processors 214.

The secure gateway 202 determines the balance of the closed loopcard/code from the closed loop processor 214 and offers to purchase theclosed loop card/code from the requestor, typically at a price lowerthan the amount on the card/code. If the requestor provides anindication of agreement to sell the closed loop card/code, then thesecure gateway deactivates the closed loop card/code associated with thesubmitted information, issues a new closed loop card/code in that amount(which may be a physical closed loop card/code or a virtual closed loopcard/code), and pays the purchase price to either the merchant or therequestor through a payment entity 216. Deactivation and issuance of anew card can occur via the processes set forth in incorporated U.S. Pat.No. 8,152,060 and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/702,600. The paymententity 216 may be a merchant that pays the requestor and then anotherentity settles with the merchant. The gateway 202 can also provideinstructions to other entities to perform the deactivation, issuance,payment, and other steps. The payment entity 216 can be part of thesecure gateway 202, part of a merchant point of sale equipment 210, or aseparate entity altogether. The secure gateway 202 can provideadditional instructions regarding how to transfer payment 218 to therequestor. Some examples of how to transfer payment include mailing aphysical open loop card/code to the requestor, emailing to the requestorthe necessary information to use a non-physical open loop card/code(such as an account number and PIN), notifying a local financial serviceto prepare an amount of money for pickup (such as MoneyGram or WesternUnion), transferring funds to an electronic account (such as PayPal),transferring money to a requestor's existing open loop card/code (suchas an OmniCard or other debit card/code), or granting store credit tothe requestor. The payment entity 216 can also provide payment to therequestor using other suitable approaches.

In connection with the transaction, a user can dispose of the closedloop card by inserting it into a slot on a kiosk 204, surrendering thephysical card at a merchant 210, or dropping the card in a bin for latercollection and recycling, for example.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user 302 and merchant 304 interaction 300 with asecure gateway 202. A user or consumer 302 approaches a merchant 304.The user 302 tenders a closed loop card/code to the merchant 304 whichthe merchant 304 did not issue. For example, the user 302 presents a $50Famous Footwear gift card/code at a K-Mart store. The merchant 304swipes the card/code or enters identifying information into a point ofsale device 306. The point of sale device queries a multi-process securegateway 202. The multi-process secure gateway 202 analyzes the submittedinformation from the closed loop card/code to determine which processorissued it. The secure gateway 202 interacts with multiple processors310, 312, 314. These can be the same or different processors 214 asshown in FIG. 2. The secure gateway 202 determines that the closed loopcard/code is valid and retrieves a balance. The secure gateway 202further determines an offer price to purchase the closed loop card/codeand returns the balance and the offer price to the point of sale device306. The point of sale device displays the balance and/or the offerprice to the merchant 304. The merchant 304 can then offer to the user302 to accept the offer price for the closed loop card/code as full orpartial payment for goods or services of the merchant 304. In somecases, the merchant's point of sale equipment 306 includes or interactswith a business logic server 316. The business logic server 316considers various factors, such as the type of closed loop card/code,how direct the competition is between the merchant 304 and the issuer ofthe closed loop card/code, whether the user is a repeat customer, themerchant's inventory, the merchant's capacity to handle new customers,the time of day, and/or other various factors. The business logic server316 can calculate how valuable the user's business is to the merchant304 and what premium the user's business is worth over the offer pricereceived from the secure gateway 202. The point of sale device 306 canalso display a third value from the business logic server in addition tothe closed loop card/code balance and the offer price from the securegateway. At this point, the merchant 304 can make an informed decisionwhether to accept the closed loop card/code and what value to assign tothe closed loop card/code. Any merchant can accept closed loopcard/codes through the secure gateway's API. Merchant can decide to takethe 20% loss or whatever the spread is to take the customer's businessaway from competitor-issued business card/codes.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method embodiment of redeeming a closedloop card/code funded with an amount of money. The method can bepracticed by a properly configured system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 or asembodied in gateway 202 or in some other configuration such as a computecluster or other multi node environment. The system first receives froma merchant point of sale an indication of use of a closed loop card/codenot issued by the merchant and presented by a consumer (402). Theconsumer or merchant can swipe the closed loop card/code through acard/code reader to read information identifying the closed loopcard/code. The card/code owner or merchant can also insert the card/codeinto a card/code reader within a kiosk in a manner similar to anAutomated Teller Machine (ATM). In one aspect, a kiosk or other locationwhich accepts and/or reads physical closed loop card/codes can include arecycling receptacle for collecting used card/codes. The collected usedcard/codes can be recycled or destroyed. Certain closed loop card/codeissuers may require this feature to keep deactivated or invalidcard/codes out of circulation. The system and/or the merchant canrestrict the amount of money the owner of the closed loop card/code canredeem over a period of time. The system and/or the merchant can alsorestrict the number of card/codes redeemed over a period of time. Forexample, the system can impose a $1,000 per month or 3 card/code per daylimit. The system and/or the merchant can require the card/code owner tocreate or log in to an account to redeem closed loop card/codes. Thesystem and/or the merchant can also request that card/code owners enterdriver's license information, social security number, credit card/codeinformation, and/or any other information. This information can be usedto direct any payments to the owner and can also be used to check thatthe owner is not engaged in fraud with the closed loop card/code.

The system queries and receives a confirmation of an amount of money inan account associated with the closed loop card/code (404). The systemcan query and receive a confirmation of the amount of money from amulti-process secure gateway which communicates with one or more closedloop card/code processors. The system presents the consumer with anoffer to buy the closed loop card/code at a discount price (406). Uponaccepting the offer, the system closes out the closed loop card/code(i.e. draws down the money in the card/code to zero) and pays thediscount price to the consumer (408). Paying the discount price caninclude applying the discount price to a purchase by the consumer at themerchant or paying the merchant directly. The merchant can provide cashback to the consumer for the excess value of the discount price over thepurchase by the consumer at the merchant. Alternatively, the system candeposit any excess value of the discount price in the consumer's accountor issue a new gift card/code or coupon code to the consumer. Themerchant can apply more than the offered discount price to the purchasein order to entice potential customers. The system can pay the discountprice by applying the discount price to a merchant specific card/code ofthe consumer.

In one aspect, the merchant, Applebee's, offers to trade the Chili'sclosed loop card/code for an Applebee's closed loop gift card/code at amore favorable rate than the secure gateway offers. In this way,merchants can pay a small price, i.e. the premium over the securegateway's offer, to attract customers. Consumers may want thisfunctionality to convert a gift card/code with an undesirable merchantto a gift card/code with a more desirable merchant for themselves or togive to another. The merchant can personalize the new card/code based oninput text, data, images, sounds, or other information from the user.

In another example, the merchant receives from the owner a set ofsmaller values totaling a sum equal to or lesser than the amount ofmoney in the closed loop card/code account and divides the amount ofmoney in the closed loop account into gift card/codes in denominationsof the set of smaller values. The merchant provides these giftcard/codes to the owner as payment. A concrete example of this scenariois a user who submits a $300 gift card/code to Domino's, but does notlike Domino's pizza. The user can present the $300 gift card/code toPapa John's, which determines that the card/code is worth $175. The usercan split that $175 into a current purchase and open or closed loop giftcard/codes in varying denominations. The user can purchase $100 of pizzafrom Papa John's and receive a $50 gift card/code and a $25 giftcard/code from Papa John's. The user can then regive these giftcard/codes to others. The user can request that the system or themerchant deliver the gift card/codes to a third party as a gift. Userscan request that the system or merchant hold the gift card/code anddeliver it on a specific day to a specific person. Users can furtherprovide a personalized message for delivery with the gift card/code. Inone aspect, the system or merchant provides users with a managementinterface to edit details of held gift card/codes, such as cancellingthe hold, delivering early, editing the personalized message, and othermanagement functions. In one aspect, the reseller purchases a giftcard/code from a user at or above its face value, i.e. purchases a $100Sears gift card/code for $100 or for $110. In this case, the resellercan make a profit by providing the payment for the gift card/code on ageneral purpose reloadable card/code run by the reseller. Then thereseller makes by interest, float, interchange, and/or monthly minimumfees. The reseller method described herein may also be provided as atool by another entity that franchises or receives a fee for use of thetool.

The system can provide a mechanism for applying funds on an unwantedclosed loop gift card/code toward payments of a bill (utility bill, carloan, student loan payment, cell phone bill, etc.) As an example, Tompresents a $50 Sears gift card/code to a Cash4Card site, which offersTom $40 for the card/code. Tom elects to receive the $40 by way ofentering the Third Party they wish to pay the funds to, and theCash4Card site makes payment on Tom's behalf. The Cash4Card site canthen prompt Tom to enter additional information, such as an accountnumber, invoice number, or bill number.

In another variation, the owner had a $100 closed loop gift card/codeand purchased merchandise or services with it such that $32.31 remainedon the gift card/code. The merchant offers to purchase the $32.31card/code for $19.39. The owner wants to convert the offered purchaseprice to a gift card/code, but doesn't want to give a gift card/codewith a non-round number. The user can pay extra money in addition to theoffered purchase price to obtain a gift card/code with the desired roundnumber, such as an extra $0.61 to round up to $20 or an extra $5.61 toround up to $25.

In a related embodiment, the system redeems a closed loop card/codefunded with an amount of money. The system receives from a merchant anindication of use of a closed loop card/code not issued by the merchantand presented by a consumer at a merchant point of sale, queries andreceives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associatedwith the closed loop card/code, receives an indication from the merchantthat the consumer has accepted an offer to sell the closed loopcard/code, and based on the received indication, closes out the closedloop card/code and pays a second amount the merchant. The merchant canapply a discount to a purchase by the consumer based on the amount paidto the merchant. The merchant can provide cash back to the consumer forexcess value over the second amount paid to the merchant. The merchantcan apply a discount greater than the second amount.

Online merchants can also accept other online or offline merchant giftcodes. The type of merchant does not matter, i.e. a shoe retailer canaccept payment as a gift code or gift card from an electronics retailer.For example, amazon.com can accept coupon codes from buy.com orebay.com. Online merchants can complete these redemptions in the onlinemerchant shopping cart, as opposed to a POS in an offline setting, usingall the same API's and displaying to the buyer online in the cart theamount they can get for the unwanted third party merchant card/code atcheckout. The online merchants can incorporate the API's themselves oraccess a service which implements the API's. For example, at checkout amerchant displays online to the buyer a prompt to ‘Enter the Gift Code’and the buyer sees a drop down list of merchants from which thismerchant accepts gift codes. The buyer then selects the appropriatemerchant from the drop down list and enters the gift code number. Whenthe buyer enters the gift code, the online merchant can display theredeemable value of that gift code. The buyer can then decide whether ornot to use the discount associated with that gift code.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method embodiment of redeeming a closedloop card/code funded with an amount of money. The method can bepracticed by a properly configured system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 or asembodied in gateway 202 or in some other configuration such as a computecluster or other multi node environment. The system first receives froma merchant an indication of use of a closed loop card/code not issued bythe merchant and presented by a consumer at a merchant point of sale(502). The system then queries and receives a confirmation of an amountof money in an account associated with the closed loop card/code (504).The system receives an indication from the merchant that the consumerhas accepted an offer to sell the closed loop card/code (506). Then,based on the received indication, the system closes out the closed loopcard/code and paying a second amount to the merchant (508). Thevariations set forth above also apply to the method shown in FIG. 5.

Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may also includetangible computer-readable storage media for carrying or havingcomputer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Suchcomputer-readable storage media can be any available media that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer, including thefunctional design of any special purpose processor as discussed above.By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media caninclude RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other mediumwhich can be used to carry or store desired program code means in theform of computer-executable instructions, data structures, or processorchip design. When information is transferred or provided over a networkor another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of thedisclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize variousmodifications and changes that may be made to the principles describedherein without following the example embodiments and applicationsillustrated and described herein, and without departing from the spiritand scope of the disclosure.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: receiving an indication from a mobiledevice at a location of a merchant of a desire to sell a closed loopaccount issued by another merchant not associated with the merchant,wherein the closed loop account is issued for use with a single company;receiving a confirmation, via a computing device, of an amount of moneyin the closed loop account by accessing a database of accounts from amulti-process secure gateway over the Internet; presenting, via themobile device and over the Internet, a consumer with an offer to buy theclosed loop account; receiving from the mobile device an acceptance ofthe offer; cancelling the closed loop account based on the acceptance toyield a cancelled closed loop account; and creating a new closed loopaccount issued by the merchant and only available for use at themerchant, the new closed loop account funded by at least a portion offunds from the cancelled closed loop account.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the closed loop account is represented by one of a physicalcard, a code, and a credit.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the closedloop account is represented by a physical card, and the indicationidentifies a code associated with the closed loop account.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the acceptance of the offer is received at one of aphysical store of the merchant and an online portal.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a benefit is applied, after creating the new closedloop account, to a third party designated by the merchant.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein the benefit comprises one of a physical card, acode, and a credit.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the new closedloop account issued by the merchant is represented by one of a physicalcard, a code, or a credit.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:presenting at least one of a discount and cash back in association witha purchase on the mobile device using the new closed loop account; andapplying the at least one of the discount and the cash back to thepurchase upon receiving an acceptance of the at least one of thediscount and the cash back from the mobile device.
 9. A systemcomprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storagedevice storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, causethe processor to perform operations comprising: receiving an indicationfrom a mobile device at a location of a merchant of a desire to sell aclosed loop account issued by another merchant not associated with themerchant, wherein the closed loop account is issued for use with asingle company; receiving a confirmation of an amount of money in theclosed loop account by accessing a database of accounts from amulti-process secure gateway over the Internet; presenting, via themobile device and over the Internet, a consumer with an offer to buy theclosed loop account; receiving from the mobile device an acceptance ofthe offer; cancelling the closed loop account based on the acceptance toyield a cancelled closed loop account; and creating a new closed loopaccount issued by the merchant and only available for use at themerchant, the new closed loop account funded by at least a portion offunds from the cancelled closed loop account.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the closed loop account is represented by one of a physicalcard, a code, and a credit.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein theclosed loop account is represented by a physical card, and theindication identifies a code associated with the closed loop account.12. The system of claim 9, wherein the acceptance of the offer isreceived at one of a physical store of the merchant and an onlineportal.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein a benefit is applied, aftercreating the new closed loop account, to a third party designated by themerchant.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the benefit comprises oneof a physical card, a code, and a credit.
 15. The system of claim 9,wherein the new closed loop account issued by the merchant isrepresented by one of a physical card, a code, or a credit.
 16. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storagedevice further stores instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:presenting at least one of a discount and cash back in association witha purchase on the mobile device using the new closed loop account; andapplying the at least one of the discount and the cash back to thepurchase upon receiving an acceptance of the at least one of thediscount and the cash back from the mobile device.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage device having instructions stored therein,which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing deviceto perform operations comprising: receiving an indication from a mobiledevice at a location of a merchant of a desire to sell a closed loopaccount issued by another merchant not associated with the merchant,wherein the closed loop account is issued for use with a single company;receiving a confirmation, via a computing device, of an amount of moneyin the closed loop account by accessing a database of accounts from amulti-process secure gateway over the Internet; presenting, via themobile device and over the Internet, a consumer with an offer to buy theclosed loop account; receiving from the mobile device an acceptance ofthe offer; cancelling the closed loop account based on the acceptance toyield a cancelled closed loop account; and creating a new closed loopaccount issued by the merchant and only available for use at themerchant, the new closed loop account funded by at least a portion offunds from the cancelled closed loop account.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the closed loopaccount is represented by one of a physical card, a code, and a credit.19. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 17,wherein the closed loop account is represented by a physical card, andthe indication identifies a code associated with the closed loopaccount.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable storage device ofclaim 17, wherein the acceptance of the offer is received at one of aphysical store of the merchant and an online portal.
 21. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 17, havingfurther instructions stored therein, which, when executed by thecomputing device, cause the computing device to perform operationscomprising: presenting at least one of a discount and cash back inassociation with a purchase on the mobile device using the new closedloop account; and applying the at least one of the discount and the cashback to the purchase upon receiving an acceptance of the at least one ofthe discount and the cash back from the mobile device.